PSYCHOSEXUAL PROBLEMS IN THE CONTRACEPTIVE CONSULTATION – FURTHER TREATMENT OR REFERRAL? (DOCTOR’S FEELINGS)
The doctor was in a quandary. He wanted to help her; wanted to ask her to bring her husband to see him, but felt alarmed by his feelings of anger towards the husband, and that he himself could do better given half a chance. To give himself time to think, he said he would make some enquiries about sources of help for them and arranged to see her again, leaving her contraception, by mutual agreement, unchanged.
He presented the consultation to his training seminar, expecting condemnation for his personal feelings, and hoping to understand his confusion by discussion with members of the group. The seminar appreciated his dilemma. There was agreement that he had to maintain his professional relationship with Mrs S. and concentrate on his role as a doctor and not as a rival to her husband. There was no evidence that the husband thought he had a problem, and he would not be likely to co-operate if dragged along ‘for treatment’ by his wife. If the wife wanted help to sort out her complaint (that her husband had premature ejaculation), he should refer her. She could then negotiate with her husband whether he was willing to participate in therapy, in order to improve her sexual satisfaction. The doctor expressed his relief; he had been torn between his personal feelings that here was a dangerous situation, and his professional pride.
*323/197/1*
